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Thursday, 16 February 2012

My secret santa at Christmas turned out to be my friend Eva, who lives in Rhode Island and I don't get to see very often :( (much like many of my other friends who live in the US). She clearly knows me and I got a beautiful handmade sewing box, with some goodies inside like bobbins, tape measure and a seam ripper. As well as this she made me a whole batch of Crossin Rolls. These delicious pastry treats and Eva and I go way back to eleventh grade, when our English teacher brought them in for us; Ms Crossin! We were instantly hooked and got the recipe immeadiately, and made them numerous times throughout the next couple of years. I had shockingly forgotten about them and so Eva's present, wrapped up beautifully as seen below, was a blast from the past as well as EXTREMELY DELICIOUS.

I emailed Ms Crossin asking if I could share her recipe and she has kindly agreed! It is such a simple recipe but has great results.

Crossin Rolls

Puff pastry - I use store bought and it's great.

Ham

Grated cheese (gruyere works well)

Mustard

Mayonnaise

S&P

It is such a simple recipe but has great results.

- Take a sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry, and roll it out a little more. Brush the pastry with mustard, then with mayonnaise, covering the whole pastry, apart from a small strip on the shorter end (about 1cm wide). - Lay slices of ham, covering the whole of the pastry, aside from the small strip on the shorter end. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top. - Beginning from the opposite end to the strip you left clear, roll the pastry into a log. When you reach the end, smooth the small clear strip into the pastry under it to hold the log together. Place this join face down on the table and slice the log into rounds (approx. 2cm thick). - Cook on trays in the oven at 180 degress for 10 mins, or until pastry is cooked.

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Toad in the Hole is a classic British dish. I only had it for the first time this year however when my housemate made it and it was delicious.

Since then I have made it twice and kind of want to have it again tonight now I am thinking about it..Toad in the HoleServes 4300ml milk225g plain flour4 eggs8 sausagesOilS&P- Set the oven to about 180 degrees (fan). - Blend the milk, eggs and S&P together until frothy. Leave for at least twenty minutes.- Heat the oil until hot in a roasting tray. Add the sausages and cook until they are how you like them - around 15 mins for me. - Add the flour slowly to the egg/milk mixture and blend until totally combined. - Pour the mixture over the sausages in the tray (get rid of excess fat if there is a lot of it first) and put in the oven until risen and golden brown. This should take about half an hour.I think it's best served drowned in gravy but it's also popular with peas and/or mashed potato.Pictured is half this recipe for two people.

Thursday, 2 February 2012

This year for Secret Santa I had baileyb. This was a very good thing as she was my secret santa last year and made me literally my most treasured thing I own in life, this quilt:

It's so beautiful!

You can't top a quilt. But I wanted to do her something good. Initally decided to make her 3 different cases - one for her laptop, one for her kindle and one for her phone, but then my mum mentioned that she had made her mum a really nice laptop case and so probably had one already. So I continued with the kindle and iphone pouches but then for the third thing made her this travel jewelry pouch. It was the most complicated thing I have made yet and took the longest but I am very pleased with the result.It was the first time I had to make a button hole. I used this video which was extremely helpful.

Kindle case (how to - see laptop case post)

Travel Jewelry pouch

I actually changed the ribbon when I acquired one that suited the pouch better - shown below.